Facebook and YouTube Lead Mobile Online Activity [Study]

As more web users have shifted to smartphones and tablets, Facebook became the most-used smartphone app and YouTube remained the top source for streaming over the past year.

Figures from Nielsen show that smartphone penetration increased 9 percent from the start of 2013 to 65 percent in October. More than half of them used Android and 41 percent used iOS smartphones. Meanwhile, nearly 30 percent of American households today carry tablets.

The popularity of mobile devices drives the use of smartphone apps. Facebook, with more than 103 million unique users each month, was the most-used smartphone app across Android and iOS devices. But Instagram emerged as the fastest growing app over the past year, as it saw a 66 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth in terms of unique users.

Online video viewing keeps increasing as well, according to Nielsen. YouTube, the most popular online video brand, attracted more than 128 million Americans each month. In comparison, VEVO and Yahoo owned around 37 million viewers and 35 million viewers, respectively.

Web activity using computer browsers suffered a slight decline among top 10 U.S. web brands this year. Google saw a six percent YoY decrease. Facebook, while it held its leading status on its mobile app, had 16 percent less unique audience on its website than last year.